The Woman in the Dunes by Kōbō Abe

If I could pass binding laws for fiction writers, I’d impose a ban on dream sequences. I cringe whenever a character falls asleep and the story moves into slumber time. Why? The narrative now lacks motivation, drive and (worst of all) consequences. Even a scary dream won’t scare us, nor will a bizarre dream bewilder us—because readers realize it’s all j…